Friday, May 30, 2008

As the convention comes to order this morning, an unsigned flyer is being distributed with the headline “Nay for Norm” and a picture of Coleman alongside a rhinoceros with a slash through it.

The rhino is GOP slang for RINO – Republican in Name Only, perhaps the cruelest indictment that can be issued within the ranks to a party member.

The text accuses Coleman of backing an Al Gore-like scheme to bury carbon dioxide emitted by power plants, abandoning taxpayers during last year’s congressional session, and favoring agribusinesses over family farmers by voting to override President Bush’s veto of the recent farm bill.

“Let’s tell Senator Coleman that there is another political party for big spenders and say ‘nay’ to his endorsement,” the writer of the flyer concludes.

There has been some murmuring in scattered Republican circles in recent months raising the same kinds of issues about Coleman that have dogged presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain — namely, that neither one is conservative enough to pass muster.